


To Teach and Learn

by dracoglacies



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: Gen, set in the near future, some patchouli/koakuma moments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-12
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-29 19:42:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,992
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16271036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dracoglacies/pseuds/dracoglacies
Summary: Patchouli could just make her security spells more complicated for Marisa to go through, but that's not her intention for the black-white witch.





	To Teach and Learn

“Koakuma, did Marisa took  _ Magiae Naturalis _ instead of this book?” Patchouli was rechecking some of the shelves, especially the ones she knew the black-white witch frequented. She had a feeling she knew what the other was trying to find out… She stared at the  _ Five Elements _ and another interpretation of  _ I Ching _ that was still sitting on the shelf.

 

In some ways, she knew she shouldn’t put them here, in this  _ wrong _ category, but she was quite sure Marisa wouldn’t check the Eastern side right now…

 

“Don’t you think that it would be better if you tell her straight on, Patchouli-sama?” Koakuma side-stepped the question, although considering what she knew, that was forgivable. Her smaller pair of wings seemed agitated, flapping every now and then as she glanced at the shelf she herself was staring at.

 

A small sigh escaped her mouth. The demon knew that she didn’t want to answer that question. So instead…  “Just do it, Koakuma.”

 

The effect of that permission was immediate, Koakuma immediately took those two books and put them in separate locations- one in the Eastern Elements section, and the other in the Taoism section. With that done, the devil gave a very satisfied look.

 

That out of the way, it was now time to recheck the protection of the books. The more dangerous books getting another extra dose of being  _ unimportant _ stressed into them (A proper magician like Alice wouldn’t bat her eye on that kind of protection, but for Marisa…), then the usual alarm and return spell ( _ just in case _ ), with protection from all kind of elements. And of course, a hidden security spell she was quite sure Marisa wouldn’t be able to get through… yet.

 

_ If nothing else, her tenacity to get through my security spells are one of the best I know. _

 

For the less dangerous books, she only put her usual protection, this time the security spell would force Marisa to think of both side of magic, western and eastern. Add then she would need control to the power output as the main way of opening it as well.  _ This will be good exercise for her _ . _ Control was one of the thing she is lacking in after all. _

 

Last but not least would be the books she would expect Marisa to take, just because they were convenient- a slight illusion and the security she knew Marisa had broken through just yesterday. It was a mix of using opposite elements at once as well as more control, easy to know, but hard to do.

 

With that daily check done, she leaned back to her chair. It was still tiring, but it was a good tired. Her magic felt satisfied from her usage and settled down as she used it to reinforce certain parts of her body. Sometimes she hated her frail body, but the magic was good enough substitute for a lot of things.

 

Now, back to her own experiment...

* * *

Days passed without her realizing it, the fact that Sakuya just supplied her with food and Koakuma helping her without any guests coming pretty much turn each hour into blur of same thing, with only her occasional scribble of the results she got breaking the monotony.

 

Books grabbed to recheck her theories, which was getting increasingly obscure as her experiment continued.

 

It was when she put wrong mixtures with each other and having the resulting mess nearly ate her own magic and soul that she knew she had to stop for now.

 

At least that failure was easy enough to handle, make her own magic mingle with it- and it ended up eating itself out. At least this was mindless, she knew some magicians could make very nasty creatures with that kind of trait. After all, magic eater was considered one of the best guardian for good reason.

 

Sighing, she sat back down on her chair, tiredness and fatigue immediately making themselves known the moment her attention had wavered away.

 

“I know you aren’t listening to me much, Patchouli-sama… but your experiments aren’t going well, right?” Koakuma’s voice was tentative, but she knew that the other was right. And that was what made it so frustrating. “This time it might be a small mistake…” She didn’t continue. There was no need to.

 

“I know.” She wearily answered the other. But this wasn’t something that Alice could help (Their field was so far apart that the fact they could still talk with each other about theoretical things was pretty much a miracle), and Marisa… “Marisa wasn’t a Magician.”  _ Not yet. _

 

“... Not a Magician, you said?” The voice was slightly hoarse, and even from the distance, she could see the brown eyes were murky with hurt. The other’s hand seemed to tremble slightly as her grip on her broom seemed to tighten. “I’ll take my leave then, since I’m obviously not a  _ Magician _ .” Her words screamed what she didn’t say, as Marisa turned around, and Patchouli could see clearer how her body shook.

 

She knew she had to explain, and quick. “T- that’s not-”  _ what I mean? _ Was what she wanted to say, but her words felt like it choked on her throat. Because then she needed to explain, didn’t she? How manipulative she was being? But at the same time, this was wrong too, and Patchouli started to  _ panic _ .

 

By now, Marisa had left the library, and while in peak condition Patchouli probably could chase the other with enough magic, her current condition forced her to stay.

 

Trying to breath felt like a futile effort, the air refusing to enter her lungs. It felt like drowning, but not in water. She knew she had to grab her inhaler, but her hand felt like lead as spots started to appear in her vision.

 

And then a hand stabilized her, gently putting the inhaler to her mouth and as she gasped in the medicine, Patchouli felt she could breathe again.

 

It took her a few minutes before she felt like she could speak normally again. “... Thank you Koakuma.” She whispered out, feeling weariness seeping to her bones.

 

She would need to chase Marisa, then try to fix this misunderstanding. Try, since she was doubtful that Marisa would listen to her. But at the same time she had to, Marisa was bright one, that talent of hers, even if it was only focused on just redoing other people’s spells…

 

There was so many potential in that too.

 

For now though, she could only lean to Koakuma. “Did you see where she went?” She murmured.

 

“No, my focus is on you, Patchouli-sama.”

 

Well, that would just made things slightly harder for herself. But she got some idea.

* * *

 

Marisa stared at the stars, on top of a mountain with no one else with her was nice. She had found this one place by sheer accident, but she used it as her reprieve. No one else knew this place, and it was  _ safe _ .

 

It took her months before it become like that, but just this small area, this peak was  _ hers _ in a way her home at Forest of Magic wasn’t. But even so...

 

_ “Marisa wasn’t a Magician.” _

 

Patchouli’s words still filled her mind. It hurt to hear that. She knew she shouldn’t take it to heart, and logically, she knew she wasn’t. She wasn’t as smart as both Alice or Patchouli, and her spells are mostly all flair and the only substance it had? Power.

 

But at the same time, she had  _ hoped _ that she would have those two’s respect. After all, the reason she took the books, to study even harder…

 

Well, at first it was only to be better than Reimu (Let’s not forget that she also wanted to ensure Reimu at least had someone to keep her on her toes). Then she started to meet other magicians and well…

 

That was the first time she wanted to be stronger because she wanted them to  _ respect _ her. She couldn’t go back to the time when she wanted to ensure Reimu had someone to speak about her job, when all those ungrateful villagers didn’t even ensure Reimu had  _ enough to eat _ …

 

That was the first time Marisa was truly angry.

 

_ “Why don’t you ask the villagers? This year they had good harvest so…” _

 

_ “No, Marisa. You have seen how they looked at me, no?” _

 

It was frustrating, but at least now Reimu had a lot of people that cared for her. Even if it wasn’t humans.

 

…

 

Looking down at the cliff, she pondered a little. Maybe this was a sign she should just focus back on Reimu? She had slowly accepted that the other could now stand on her own, and maybe, maybe she could start to take care of her own interest but that…

 

“It’s… It’s a little hard to find you, you know?” A familiar voice called out and then the slight wheeze in the breathing confirmed who it was.

 

She turned around, and the purple hair and eyes confirmed it for her. At first it was surprise, then the hurt turned into anger as she turned her face again. “What are you doing here? Want to tell how much of a  _ human _ I am?”

 

Briefly, she pondered why the other was alone. But she pushed it away, it didn’t matter. Why did the other came here anyway? She wanted to be alone...

 

“Just this time I would speak in your language, Marisa. Metal Sign [Metal Fatigue].”

 

The moment she heard that, it was her speed that saved her as she swerved before turning around, dodging the bullets. It was a little hard since every dodge forced her to blink away the spots that started to appear thanks to the brightness of Patchouli’s bullets. “W-Wait, you come here and just started to shoot? What gives?”

 

“Less chatter, more magic. Fire and Love are your main properties, why do some people are unable to use them together?”

 

The question was in such curt manner that Marisa instinctively started to answer, “Uh, because… some people’s line of thoughts aren’t aligned to what was needed to call them up?” She knew she hadn’t read this one though- oops, almost got hit with the bullets. “W-wait, why are you doing this?!”

 

Instead of answering, Patchouli sighed. “Metal Sign [Silver Dragon].”

 

Marisa had to push out the questions to focus on dodging more of the bullets, weirdly, it seemed like she could  _ feel _ their pattern forming. It was all magic after all…

 

“Your answer to the question was wrong, I asked you about using them  _ together _ .” Patchouli’s voice suddenly cut in, putting her out of that weird feeling and everything turned back to normal.

 

It took her a bit to think about it, it was a little hard to do that when she had to dodge, try to see where she can fire her spell to stop this from continuing on top of that. And it was hard to think of why people  _ couldn’t _ when she herself could. “Because in their mind fire and love didn’t mix, especially if they thought one of them as uncontrollable element, most often the love part.” She offered finally.

 

The frustrating part?

 

“Interesting answer, Marisa. Now, you should be able to answer this question.” Patchouli moved her hand, preparing her next spell.

 

See? What kind of answer was that? “Before you fire up those kind of question, can you answer mine first or do I need to beat you up for it?” It was frustrating. She had been angry and despaired before the other had arrived, and now with all this magic around her she felt her own magic bubbling inside.

 

It wanted  _ out _ and Marisa was tempted to let it do so.

 

“Patience and control, Marisa. This is the last one, Earth and Metal Sign [Emerald Megalith].” The other’s voice cut through her own thoughts, and she could feel the sheer  _ depth _ of Patchouli’s magic this time.

 

The stones that formed were all made from her magic, each of them sculpted into the same form, but different sizes and they all were aimed at  _ her _ .

 

_ Uh oh. _

 

As each of the emerald seemed to only graze her, she felt her focus sharpened to such a point that she could see a path to where Patchouli was standing, her magic still pouring into her spell.

 

That was enough, she tugged her broom and blazed forward. Her focus let her saw those miniscule gaps in between the stones, right, right, left, up!

 

Then she aimed her hakkero down, “Love Sign [Master Spark]!” She called out as her spell blazed forward to Patchouli, all the aggression that was pent up in her magic was put into it, making that spell far stronger than usual.

 

And it was a straight hit.

 

Her eyes widened as she immediately get to where Patchouli was. “O-oi, Koakuma will kill me if you aren’t alright.” She immediately checked the other’s body, it seemed like the worst damage was handled by the outfit, considering how many of it was singed- Marisa blushed and averted her eyes. “Um… I should bring you back to the Scarlet Devil Mansion.”

 

Patchouli let out a sigh. “I’ll be alright, before I take my leave again though. Come again to the library once you know the answer to this question. What did you do wrong with your last spell? It might hit, it might be stronger than your usual attack considering it went through most of my barriers…” The other let out a small cough as she breathed before continuing. “And… do you know why one is called a Magician?”

 

The first question was something Marisa filed away for later, but the second one made her froze as she stared at the other.

 

“I apologize for my words, I didn’t word it well. As apology, I’ll tell you this. Your talent is one of the greatest I’ve seen in humans for a long time.”

 

That froze her as Patchouli took her leave, leaving her dazed as she stared at the other’s back.

* * *

When Patchouli reached back to the Mansion, Koakuma was there immediately. Helping stabilizing her magic considering she went into her reserves for her last spell, as well as repairing her clothing.

 

The normal enchantment on it would be put off to tomorrow after a good, long rest.

 

“Patchouli-sama, next time you do this, please let me go with you.” Koakuma’s voice was tense as her headwings seemed to flap agitatedly in contrast to the very still wings on her back.

 

She smiled as she looked at her familiar. “You know I can’t promise that, you are my familiar, but if we are going through with this…”

 

Apprenticeship was and still very serious, so far, she managed to skirt around the rules by not outright helping and instead giving clues and hints (and letting the other broke through her security). But now she had given the other questions upon questions.

 

Well, in the end what the answer would be would need Marisa’s answer. She still had to explain  _ why _ she asked after all considering Marisa’s background.

 

Koakuma gave soft sigh as she leaned close and Patchouli took that chance to gently stroke the other’s headwing. “Nn, Patchouli-sama, don’t push me. Although I know you are doing this to distract me.”

 

She only smiled as she pulled the other closer. After all, it wouldn’t do to make her familiar jealous.

 

A few days had passed since Patchouli threw that question at Marisa, and the witch still hadn’t showed her face back at the library.

 

Frankly, it worried her. But this time, she couldn’t do anything about it. She had told the other that Marisa would come to the library when she found the answer.

 

She dove back into her normal routine to distract her- keeping her security spells up, looking for some theories for her own research and Koakuma herself was still good distraction.

 

It wasn’t until afternoon that the library was opened forcefully and Marisa strode in. “First answer is that I let my pent up emotions interfere. Hah, that one was easy!”

 

Definitely not bad and she gave the other a nod. “The second?”

 

That one made Marisa stayed silent for a bit, she could see how Marisa seemed to steady herself. “To be a Magician is to let knowledge itself be your drive, which I didn’t.” She went silent after that, pensive.

 

Patchouli closed her book and motioned for the other to sit at one of the chair. She finally speak when the other was sitting. “Close, but that’s not it. To be Magician, you let magic consume you, for better or worse, you are  _ Magic _ . Of course, your original body had some effect on that process…”

 

Her frail body was still something she wished she could fix, but at the same time, it was the reason her magic was as strong as it was right now. It couldn’t be fixed anymore no matter what was done anyway.

 

“Now, do you notice anything strange when you are taking my books?” This was important question, and if Marisa couldn’t see? Then even if the other was one of the biggest talent in the whole world, she would refuse and they could continue this dance of avoidance.

 

Luckily, the other nodded. “Your security spells helped me get stronger, it’s like you are slowly increasing the difficulty whenever I managed to break through. That was deliberate, wasn’t it?” The other’s eyes narrowed at her.

 

That answer was a relief as she nodded. “I can’t do more unless you accept my next proposal.” She started, her eyes tracking Marisa’s reaction. “You’ll be my apprentice, and this’ll be a permanent position until you either died, or become a Magician yourself.”

 

The magic of the world stirred and Patchouli could feel its influence starting to exert between the two. However, it wouldn’t do much more than that until Marisa answered.

 

And there was only one answer the other would give.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm sorry I put the ending like that and I prefer to have a pinned ending instead of open ended one. But for this one... I don't feel it fit for me to pick a side for Marisa? In the end, Marisa will pick one choice, whether it's one of them or even another one entirely.
> 
> Nonetheless, I hope you all will tell me what you think about it! :)


End file.
